I wouldn't put all my faith in one device based on hopes and wishes for the future. To anyone living now the 3rd party support for the iPhone isn't as strong and seemingly doesn't bring in as much money.
You have nothing to back this up. My point on the other hand takes in the 3DS being the successor to the best selling games system of all time and before it has even launched mainline games by the main teams have already been announced for it. Third-parties want to work on the DS and 3DS because that is where the money is. It has little to do with a relationship with Nintendo, which if you knew your history is hilarious to read considering Nintendo and third-parties had a strained relationship in the 90's. With the DS this changed because the platform was easy to develop for and markets were established so third-parties could profit hugely be their game small or large in scope. This isn't true of the iPhone where large scoped titles (which are just medium scoped compared to DS games) have still not found a proper footing. You can speak of "oh, just wait and see" all you want but the evidence shows otherwise. The 3DS already has better and more support from Japanese devs than the iPhone and it hasn't even launched yet. As for your comment on the more powerful iPhones, what makes you think thst will change anything? The 3GS has been out for a year and hardly anyone has actually taken advantage of the increase in power. Why? Because it fractures the market if you support just one iteration of the same device and the publisher ends up with a much smaller market to sell to. So it is puzzling why you think this has an effect on anything.
Well, the DS is a gaming system. That's why the major third parties should support it. Do they have any choice? Sure, but that would have been contra-productive. The iDevices are phones or mp3 players, so some third parties weren't sure if gaming on that platforms will ever exceed the shallow gaming known on mobile phones. So it's not hilarious if I say that major third parties need time to accept Apple as hardare manufacturer for games and owners of iDevices as gamers. The App Store is just two years old... that's nothing against the time the DS is on the market. When it comes to DS: there are only a handful games that were reviewed 90% and more, when you want to take a look at metacritics or gamerankings. Then there are dozens of games between 80 and 90%. That's a solid base, but like I said before: without Nintendo and Square Enix I don't see a reason to go wild when it comes to the 3DS. Not every gamer is a J-RPG fan, sorry. I think the 3DS will be a great product, but so will be the iPhone 4 or the next iPod Touch. Of course it impresses game developers when they see that Apple is improving it's devices once every year. By adding a great display, a gyroscope or a good processor Apple proves that it takes gaming serious. On every keynote you see companies like Activision or SEGA presenting games. If you're interested, take a look at the comparison done by PocketGamer: http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Various/Nintendo+3DS/feature.asp?c=21528 http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Various/Nintendo+3DS/feature.asp?c=21530 That shows that both platforms have their pros and cons. When it comes to me (and a lot of other gamers, by the way), the iDevices are much more interesting than the DS. But there are surely lots of people that have exactly the opposite opinion. No problem with that...
Except the DS has a lot more than RPGs going for it, it's rather ignorant to suggest what you did. Also, metacritics? If you're seriously going by that then the five 90% games pretty much obliterate all the iPhones software with regards to scope and polish. That isn't including the 80-90% ones, which also do the same. I really don't understand where you're coming from to bring that up.
As you know, I generally agree with your argument, but here you're simply wrong. Computers in general (an Apple products in particular) work in generational patterns: new devices arrive at the price point of the devices they're replacing, with the older devices continuing to sell at discounted prices. To whit: the iPhone 3Gs is now selling for $95 in the US, while the older 3G model is about to be discontinued. By the time the 3DS actually comes out (most optimistic estimates are Nov/Dec), the great majority of iDevices in the market will be 3Gs or better, at which point we'll be seeing more games that take advantage of the 3Gs processing power BTW, even with all the ATT snafus, the iPhone 4 had pre-orders that were 10 times are high as those for the iPhone 3Gs.
Do you have actual evidence of this? Because I seem to remember a lot of 1G and 2G touch systems were sold. Same goes for 3Gs touch, which will be replaced by the more powerful 4. For many developers if they want the largest market have have to keep in mind nearly all the iterations, which would prevent them from going all out.
I'm sure the 1-2G systems still count for a big chunk of the market. Even if 3G-iPhone 4 counts as the majority there's still a large number of people left in the dust.
If iPhone games were put onto DS and reviewed by those same sites, we'd probably be going into the region of 70% and below for a lot of them. That's a bit ignorant (and I don't mean that in an insulting way, that's just the correct word for it), especially if you refer to my earlier posts about third parties.
On the iPhone 4 preorders, check out Daring Fireball. On the adoption patterns of Apple products, I have only 20 years of experience to back me up . I can say this much: there are a lot more iPhones out there than 1G or 2G iPod Touches. In any event, people interested in bigger games will likely buy the more powerful devices (just as people interested in PC gaming go for the higher end machines), particularly as the second tier drops in price. Sales of iPhones and other powerful smartphones are accelerating, so it stands to reason that the balance will skew toward the most current technology. I would say that within the next 2/3 months the iPod Touch 2nd Gen (which is significantly more powerful than the 3G or 1st gen iPod Touch) will be the new baseline; within 3/4 months you should see many 3Gs/iPhone 4/iPad releases. Nintendo, of course, is facing the same problem with the 3DS. The installed base of the DS is, to put it mildly, monumental. It's also not clear whether Nintendo intends to discontinue the DS in the near future, or how expensive it will be in comparison with the newer device. In other words, there will be a strong incentive for developers to cater games towards the older platform, at least for a while after the release of the 3DS. The DS has had a number of disappointments at the higher end (Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks and GTA:Chinatown were well reviewed, but they didn't sell anywhere near expectations), and that market is still very much dominated by games like Pokemon and Animal Crossing -- not exactly hardcore fare. We'll see what happens with this initial (and impressive) roster of launch or near-launch titles for the 3DS. It's hard to say anything near conclusive right now because so much is up in the air.
No, I mean on that 3GS will be the majority. It seems like there are still tens of millions of the older devices. That's a big chunk to ignore for many a developer. I don't see how this is a problem or indeed anywhere similar to that on the idevices. The above happened with the transition from the GBA to the DS. The idevices do not play within the same generational cycle reboot though, or rather and more accurately I should say many developers for the idevice do not wish to play in that arena because by doing so on the idevices they're cutting off a sizeable chunk of audience every year when a new iteration is released. This reboot / cutoff happens every five-to-six years on handhelds and consoles. It is nowhere near the same. Though Spirit Tracks did underperform I don't see what your point is there (even though 2.5 million is nothing to sniff at) when other equally budgeted and polished games do meet expectations. As for GTA it has underperformed on all platforms it has released on. Also, why are you speaking of meaningless terms such as hardcore, where is the line drawn on such a term? The DS didn't have a large amount of mature rated games, yes mainly because of a lack of western developers giving it proper focus, but surely you're not counting mature rated as hardcore? The DS has served successful markets for racing, platforming, puzzle, adventure, RPGs and FPS games, amongst others. Just because Pokemon sells 18 million does not make the 500k sales of CoD on the DS (just in the US, mind) obsolete. That is still a sizeable market for a genre that is hardly supported (again, due to western devs unwisely ignoring the platform). As for conclusive, I think you can say as much with regards to JPN support. It is handheld country there now, and iPhone isn't even a blip there. As for western devs, I don't think they will pass off a missed opportunity again like they did with the DS, but even in the worst case scenario western devs will just multiplatform content for portables.
As was clearly shown in the Nintendo presentation, the 3DS is aiming at the same console-style gaming market as the PSP. That's what I meant by hardcore. I know that the DS has a wide range of titles, but if you want to play a console-style MGS or GTA game, it's not exactly the go-to platform. There's really not way to tell whether the transition between the DS and 3DS will not run into the generation issues you see as exclusive to the iDevices. As you should know, the DS is the best selling gaming device of all time.The great majority of those folks are happy with the DS as is, as the best-selling titles on the platform attest. Will the 3DS offer enough to those folks to get them to switch? Who knows. Personally, I think the 3DS will sell mostly at the expense of the PSP, but even there it's not clear whether you'll see a massive shift. Nintendo is counting on console gamers to choose the 3DS as the device for portable gaming. I think the initial roster of games suggests that they're very serious about this strategy. But that doesn't mean that it's a certainty that it will work. The real variable here is how well people in general take to 3D gaming -- as I said before, that could very well be the "killer app" of the platform. But considering how little we still know about the actual shippable device, it's kind of delusional to see success as a given. BTW, 2.5 million for Spirit Tracks was a major disappointment. Legend of Zelda is one Nintendo's cornerstone IPs, and the expectations for the game were huge. Again, you're talking about an installed base of over 250 million -- the fact that only 1% or so picked up the game is pretty stunning.
It's ignorant to suggest that you could take a look on this from another point of view? Well, if you're not willing to think about other people's opinions, it's best if we stop the discussion here, because then it is no discussion. Even if you replied to someone else: T-Mobile, the german carrier, told that the request for the iPhone 4 was ten times as high as for the 3GS. http://www.tarife-verzeichnis.de/nachrichten/3738-iphone-4-von-apple-ausverkauft.html Here's a statement from Apple: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/06/16iphone.html Maybe. Maybe not. A lot of DS games offer great gameplay and some depth, too. But tons of iPhone games offer social gaming and fresh ideas. And there's a price difference, too. I spent some money in the app store, but I also downloaded games when they were free or cheap. So what did I pay for Rasta Monkey, Beat It!, Low Grav Racer 1 & 2, TTR, TouchPets, MiniSquadron, UniWar, iBlastMoki, EliminatePro, Beneath a steel sky, ZenBound and Cocoto Kart? Around two and a half bucks for all of them. You get a Mario clock on DSiWare for that price... And if you pick the cream, like -let's say- Zen Bound, Rolando 2, Real Racing, Plants vs. Zombies, Spider, Need for Speed: Shift, Dragon's Lair, Star Defense or Zenonia... don't you think they could prevail if you take the price difference into account? I don't get it, so please underline what was ignorant in my statement that you quoted:
Firstly from where you said 'Nintendo and Square-Enix', when there is a list of many more big name developers announcing games for the 3DS. The second part was where you implied that there are only JRPGs on the platform, which isn't true. Again, not said in an insulting way, but rather the 'lack of knowledge' definition of the word.
First off, even Zelda PH sold much less than the series is known for. Handheld Zelda has never been that huge. Zelda has predominately been a console success. Again, I'm not sure of your point with you raising handheld Zelda. In any case the install base is 130 million. As for the rest of the points, yeah you're talking of possibilities which could happen but very unlikely ones. It is more likely for the 3DS to continue domination than it is of any other device. In every great misstep of this industry it has always been down to the arrogant / foolish mistakes of that fallen and not because of competitors. The 3DS unlike with the N64 and PS3 / PSP shows no signs of this arrogance / foolishness. First off Nintendo has avoided the first biggie, which is they aren't using experimental or expensive tech but are on the winning formula of tried and tested tech. They're rectifying fundamental gaps the DS ended up with and are even implementing features mobile products offered (install games). They're approaching it all not with arrogance (like old Nintendo with N64 and Sony with PS3 / PSP) but with determination and of course with the content to prove their stance. It's is very difficult to misstep when in that position. As for incentive to upgrade, again the same happened with GBA to DS. In the US it took two years before the DS comfortably outsold the GBA. Nintendo continued to support the GBA in addition to the DS because they knew the reality. That reality is the majority of users only come along in year 2, 3 or later. The first two years are all about the early adopters. And so with support like the 3DS is getting the early adopter angle is already well covered. After some years they will then release software (in addition to a relaunch of a redesign) to entice the late arrivals, and backwards compatibility aids in this. It all leads to a gradual but smooth transition as it did from the GB to the GBA and the GBA to the DS. It only really goes wrong if you don't have the content, which is something Nintendo always has. Again, this transition is nowhere near the same as it is on the idevices. This transition is once every five years and then a further two-to-three years whereas on the idevices it is every bloody year. The transition is a universe more smoothly and easier in the handhelds case. As for killer app, it won't be hardware that is killer app but the software which uses it (as is always the case). In this case it is obviously going to be Nintendogs... and Cats to begin with. The first one in 2005 sold 24 million copies (making it the best selling non-pack in title). Because the IP wasn't milked (it has been five years) and due to the more advanced and interactive features on display in the new title, one would be very silly to speculate it won't also sell as much. The same goes for the new Mario Kart (18 million on the DS) and Mario platformer (21 million on the DS). The killer apps for Nintendo platforms have always been the ones to only pop up once per platform, that large gap in time ensures reinvigorated interest is sparked ferociously unlike with milked properties (which only Pokemon can get away with). Also, I said JPN developer support is a given. I didn't apply it to anything else.
Again, I'm not that far apart from you on this. I do find it interesting that the killer apps you mention are basically upgraded versions of existing and very successful DS titles. Do someone need a brand new device to have fun with Mario Kart? No. Will the 3DS version be such improvement to get someone to buy a new device to play it? That remains to be seen. The focus of the E3 presentation was not Mario Kart: it was Kid Icarus and MGS. They are clearly looking to expand the DS audience beyond casual/younger gamers and into what gets labeled (not by me) the "hardcore" market. For that audience, the killer feature is 3D -- otherwise, there's little reason for those folks to switch from their PSP. As to the transition, as my broker's statements usually say, past performance is not guarantee of future returns. The transition from GBA to DS was smooth: who know what will happen this time? Keep in mind that the last iteration of the DS (the MX) came out this year; the previous one came out in 2009. For many people (including me), it's not 5 years but 1 or 2. And again, the DS sold many, many more units than the GBA. BTW, my mistake on the installed base. My point was that console-style games have underperformed on the DS platform; ergo, to release a new handheld designed to play console-style games is a bit of a gamble.
Well, announcing games for a new platform is one thing. Taking advantage of the hardware is another thing. So you can be sure that -no matter what new platform will be announced- Konami will soon announce Frogger and Namco will announce Pac-Man. I'd wish that every game announced for 3DS would take advantage of all of the hardware power of this device, but I highly doubt it. I didn't intend to imply that there are only J-RPGs on the DS, but someone here was like whole Japan will support the 3DS and Western devs will have to follow, etc. I just wanted to say that everyone has a different taste when it comes to games and the hardware that runs 'em. Some people think that the iDevices are the best mobile gaming platform, some don't even consider them as gaming device at all...
Can I get a list of iPhone games that could even be close to comparing with the DS's top reviewed games? Also I really at at the "not every game is J-RPG fan" because while there are alot of good J-RPG's on the DS and 3DS the other genres have a lot more games. You know nothing what you are talking about at all and are just a apple fanboy (which sadly may soon get as bad as Sony fanboys (it hasn't yet) but as Apple matures in this market it will happen and the world will be even less of a nice place to live .
